It isn't a debate about Israeli "apartheid", its a matter of survival @rolemarks

I just read an article by Rolene Marks in Richmark Sentinel titled “The Myth of Apartheid Israel- political sex appeal?” and I started writing this comment.  By the time I finished it it was too long and I decided to post it here instead.  This is a subject that I am increasingly passionate about.  The more I think about it the angrier and more frustrated I feel.  Rolene’s article just gave me an opportunity to express some of that.

I was looking at a world map yesterday while I was meeting with a client and I had to squint a little to see Israel.  It is a tiny country surrounded by Muslim countries for the most part, many of which would be only too happy to see that sliver of a country wiped away.  You can argue that what Israel is doing is basically the same as Apartheid but what I see is a fierce struggle to survive.  From what I can find online there are between 13.3m and 15m Jews in the world.  That is a pretty small percentage of the world population which is fast approaching 7bn.  That tiny population is constantly being threatened both in Israel and elsewhere by a variety of forces that would see Jews eradicated.  In Israel there are attacks from Palestinian militants in the West Bank and Gaza (frequently supported and armed by Iran and other like minded countries) and before the barriers went up I remember hearing about a suicide bomb going off in a bus or coffee shop every other week (at least it felt like that).

Ironically when Israel takes action against these militants the Web is inundated with calls for support for the beleaguered Palestinians who are caught in the middle.  I didn’t see any protests when Israel was being shelled for almost a decade before the Gaza incursion.  I barely even knew it was happening because mainstream media just wasn’t covering it.  But when the Israelis take action against the militants who have been launching these attacks from within densely populated cities (the cowards they are), the world’s sympathy is for the Palestinians.  Can I also point out that the Palestinian authorities couldn’t or wouldn’t put an end to the attacks on their end in all that time weapons were being smuggled into the region and used against Israeli civilians going about their lives.

The Israeli government has declared itself to be in favour of some peaceful solution but there is no peace in the region.  Back home you don’t hear people talking about improving relations with criminals while they attack us in our homes.  We need peace before we can have that sort of conversation because, until then, we are constantly under threat.  When I look at criticism of Israel’s efforts to protect itself I just see an underlying call for Israel to lie down and take what’s coming as if it doesn’t deserve anything but violence and ultimate destruction.  This isn’t new.  As a nation Jews have been under constant attack for thousands of years.  The big difference now is that Israel has better technology and a fierce determination to survive.  That tiny sliver of a nation has real teeth and that frustrates its critics endlessly.

It isn’t just about Israelis either.  Attacks on Israel’s right to exist extend to Jews worldwide because Israel’s critics rarely distinguish between Israeli Jews and Jews living outside Israel.  We’re all just Jews, we’re all the same aren’t we?  At a fundamental level we are and that makes Jews living outside Israel just as much targets.  We may not be targeted by rockets but we are practically an endangered species.  There were around 70 000 Jews in South Africa a couple years ago.  The South African population is north of 48 million (a 2007 statistic) and being a distinct minority in an environment that still sees a fair amount of anti-semitism (never mind anti-Israel sentiment) is like wearing a target on our backs.

This isn’t a discussion about apartheid (I agree with Rolene, equating Israel’s efforts to protect its citizens to apartheid in South Africa detracts from the terrible injustices the Afrikaans government inflicted on the country’s population in the name of racism).  It is a discussion about the right to life and self-determination.